How long do I need for the Evangelion Hakone pilgrimage?

The certified spots all sit on the standard Hakone loop, so one full day covers Yumoto, Gora, Owakudani, Togendai and the Lake Ashi ports. Staying one night with an onsen makes it far more relaxed.

Do I need the Hakone Freepass?

Strongly recommended. The spots are spread across the mountain railway, cable car, ropeway and cruise; the Freepass covers all of them with unlimited rides and is usually cheaper than paying leg by leg.

Is the Evangelion × Hakone campaign still running?

It’s a long-running official tie-in that changes editions (the 2020 stamp rally was later succeeded by an AR-based version). Check the Hakone Navi or town tourism association pages before you go for the current activity and the merchandise shop’s hours.

Is it worth it if I haven’t seen Evangelion?

Yes. These are Hakone’s classic sightseeing core anyway — Owakudani, Lake Ashi, the ropeway — and the tie-in is just an extra layer. It works as a complete Hakone day trip on its own.

Home › Anime Pilgrimage 88 › Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion Anime Pilgrimage Guide

エヴァンゲリオン・ Officially certified on the Anime Tourism 88 (2022–2025)

📍 5 verified spots 🚄 Some spots doable as a day trip 🏅 88-Selection No.69 (2022–2025)

Quick take

Certified pilgrimage sites: 箱根町, 濱松市, 宇部市 (3 locations)
5 verified filming spots, sourced from tourism boards and official guides
Some stops are Tokyo day-trip range

Hakone is the real-world template for Evangelion’s fictional Third New Tokyo City — the sulphur vents of Owakudani, the surface of Lake Ashi and the encircling mountain ridgeline are the visual basis for the anime’s fortress town. The town leaned into this durably rather than as a one-off gimmick: “Evangelion × Hakone” is a long-running, town-sanctioned tourism campaign, from a town-wide stamp rally in 2020 to a later AR-based “Hakone Instrumentality Project” rally, both run on dedicated official pages by the town tourism association (hakone.or.jp) and the Odakyu-affiliated Hakone Navi portal (hakonenavi.jp). It is one of the most heavily official-sourced tie-ins in the whole 88-list, and the certified spots sit neatly on a standard Hakone loop.

Pilgrimage map

Verified filming spots

Spot	Area	Scene & guide	Access
箱根湯本駅えぶぁ屋	1 箱根町	The official Hakone-exclusive Evangelion merchandise shop on the 1F concourse of Hakone-Yumoto Station — the gateway retail point of the town-wide collaboration. It’s the natural first stop before heading up the mountain to the other spots.	箱根登山鐵道箱根湯本站 1 樓大廳，出改札即達
桃源台駅（第3新東京市駅）	1 箱根町	The official stamp-rally material renames Togendai Station as the “Third New Tokyo City Station.” It’s the mountain terminus where the Hakone Ropeway meets the Lake Ashi sightseeing-cruise (pirate ship) dock — the most literal “entrance to the story world” on the route.	箱根空中纜車（大涌谷／早雲山方向）至桃源台站；或搭芦ノ湖遊覧船從箱根町港・元箱根港前往
大涌谷駅	1 箱根町	An upper station on the Hakone Ropeway, listed as one of the 14 official stamp points for “Evangelion × Hakone 2020.” Just outside are Owakudani’s sulphur vents — the real source of the apocalyptic mountain scenery that inspired the fictional city.	箱根空中纜車（早雲山或桃源台方向）至大涌谷站
箱根町港・元箱根港（芦ノ湖）	1 箱根町	The two Lake Ashi piers, both listed as official stamp points; the town frames the lake itself as part of the Third New Tokyo City stand-in. Boarding the sightseeing cruise here to Togendai lets you take in the lake-surface and ridgeline vistas in one leg.	箱根登山巴士自箱根湯本前往箱根町港・元箱根港；或搭芦ノ湖遊覧船銜接
箱根強羅公園	1 箱根町	One of the stamp points in the same official rally, located in Gora. It sits on the way up via the Hakone Tozan Cable Car from Gora Station, easy to fold into the onward Ropeway leg.	箱根登山纜車（ケーブルカー）自強羅站上行，公園入口在中途站附近

Spots verified against tourism-board / municipal / official sources (2026-07-18); confirm on-site conditions locally.

Getting there and routing the pilgrimage

From Tokyo the fastest route is Shinkansen (Tokyo→Odawara) + Hakone Tozan Line (Odawara→Hakone-Yumoto), about 60 minutes, ¥3,640; the more scenic and commonly-used route is the Odakyu Romancecar direct from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto, about 110 minutes total, ¥2,680 (times and fares per the official Hakone Navi comparison page). Inside Hakone the certified spots string along the standard loop — Hakone Tozan Railway → Cable Car → Ropeway → Lake Ashi sightseeing cruise — all covered by the Hakone Freepass. A clean order: stock up at the Evangelion shop in Yumoto, then Gora Park, Owakudani, and finish at Togendai (Third New Tokyo City Station) and the Lake Ashi ports.

Note: the franchise also has two other 88-list certified spots — Hamamatsu (Tenryu-Futamata Station) and Ube, Yamaguchi (director Hideaki Anno’s hometown) — but they are in different prefectures and off the Hakone loop, so this page focuses on the fully-documented Hakone cluster.

A pilgrimage run means walking with one hand holding your phone up against an anime screenshot the whole day — that eats data fast. Grab a KKday Japan eSIM before you land so you are not hunting for Wi-Fi at every filming spot.

The real locations

Hakone-Yumoto Station building and the station-front plaza, with taxis and shuttle vans waiting outside — Hakone-Yumoto Station — the official Evangelion x Hakone tie-in shop sits on the 1F concourse here, making it the first stop on the pilgrimage route. Photo: Kounoichi / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Aerial view of the Owakudani volcanic valley, with sulphur steam vents rising from the scarred terrain — Owakudani's sulphur vents are the real-world basis for the apocalyptic mountain scenery of the anime's fictional Third New Tokyo City; the ropeway station here is one of the official stamp-rally points. Photo: Joli Rumi / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons

A Lake Ashi sightseeing pirate-ship cruise underway on the lake, with Mt. Fuji and a red torii gate in the background — Lake Ashi and its sightseeing cruise — the town frames this lake and its ridgeline as part of the real-world stand-in for Third New Tokyo City; both piers here are official stamp points. Photo: Guilhem Vellut / CC BY 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

A stone pathway inside Gora Park, Hakone, lined with blooming azaleas — Gora Park, Hakone — one of the stamp points in the same official rally, in Gora and easy to fold into the cable-car leg of the route. Photo: Daderot / CC0 / Wikimedia Commons

More pilgrimages in the same region

ガールズ＆パンツァー最終章その着せ替え人形は恋をするあの日見た花の名前を僕達はまだ知らない。ゆるキャン△ゲゲゲの鬼太郎艦隊これくしょん -艦これ-

Browse all 88-selection sites →

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1：How long do I need for the Evangelion Hakone pilgrimage?: The certified spots all sit on the standard Hakone loop, so one full day covers Yumoto, Gora, Owakudani, Togendai and the Lake Ashi ports. Staying one night with an onsen makes it far more relaxed.
Q2：Do I need the Hakone Freepass?: Strongly recommended. The spots are spread across the mountain railway, cable car, ropeway and cruise; the Freepass covers all of them with unlimited rides and is usually cheaper than paying leg by leg.
Q3：Is the Evangelion × Hakone campaign still running?: It’s a long-running official tie-in that changes editions (the 2020 stamp rally was later succeeded by an AR-based version). Check the Hakone Navi or town tourism association pages before you go for the current activity and the merchandise shop’s hours.
Q4：Is it worth it if I haven’t seen Evangelion?: Yes. These are Hakone’s classic sightseeing core anyway — Owakudani, Lake Ashi, the ropeway — and the tie-in is just an extra layer. It works as a complete Hakone day trip on its own.